I picked up a block of ‘Flame Of Chicchan’ organic raw chocolate made by E3Live yesterday.
I don’t know what E3Live was thinking when they made this product, because it has to be the worst chocolate I’ve ever eaten in my life. And I’m quite confident in stating that it will probably be the worst I’ll ever eat.
I even uttered these words after my third bite, “This tastes like disgusting!”, and I have a witness to prove it.
It’s a pity, because I was so excited about bringing this block of chocolate home from a ‘healthy’ grocery store yesterday. I found it in the refrigeration section which was a real treat. It was almost like it was hiding so I felt like I’d hit the jackpot. Even better is how this chocolate is chocked (excuse the pun) full of super foods and it’s a raw food product. I’ve been learning a lot about raw foods lately so I felt like finding it was fate.
So why do I say this chocolate taste so bad? Well, it doesn’t taste like chocolate at all. It tastes like some kind of strange health bar that forgot to add a sweetener. Then it has this chili aftertaste which burns your throat a little. So essentially it’s a chunk of bland savory stuff with a hot ‘n’ spicy chili aftertaste.
I do have to give E3Live a little bit of credit for creating something that’s so damn healthy. It does contain a few superfoods (raw cacao, raw honey, spirulina, coconut oil), and there isn’t one ingredient on the list that isn’t highly beneficial to our bodies. If this block of choco actually tasted good, I’d be buying it by the carton, that’s how healthy it is.
I’m disappointed in this chocolate for a couple of reasons. First, I had high hopes that this would be THE brand of delicious tasting healthy chocolate that I was looking for, and second because it goes against everything that I’m all about when it comes to healthy eating. Because these ingredients modified and mixed around a little can make a healthy chocolate that actually tastes good, the way healthy food should. I feel like E3Live just got it a little bit wrong somehow. Yes it’s great to make a healthy chocolate, but it’s also important to make it actually taste good too.
And it’s not impossible. Healthy food, especially raw cacao, does not need to taste bad. In fact, raw superfoods and raw cacao can be some of the tastiest foods we’ll ever eat.
Now this product is handmade and the recipe obviously would have been sampled by the people that make it, so I’m wondering if I’m missing something here. I guess it is called ‘Flame Of Chicchan’, so perhaps the chili flavor should not have been such a surprise. But I’m also wondering if my taste buds are just not aligning well with the product. Perhaps my travel buddy (who also sampled it with a similar response) and I are just not acquired enough to fully appreciate this raw taste.
In any case, I won’t be buying this product again. And unless you like your chocolate to taste like cardboard and chilis, then I’d hold off from purchasing one too.
Sorry E3Live for the very bad review, but you still get top points for being super healthy!
Fran
14 responses ↓
Hi Fran,
Actually, E3Live (the company) did not create the bar. They are developed and made by our Canadian distributor and are targeted toward his clients in the raw food community. Many health conscious (raw food) consumers do not use any sweetners, and in fact, do not believe in consuming sweets. Especially if they have pending health challenges. (Sugar deteriorates health.) This bar is perfect for those who want super nutrition with no sugars!
I invite you to try E3Live if you have not already done so! It’s green! It’s amazing! It’s life-changing! It comes in our original (unflavoured) taste of greens, or we have our lightly flavoured (with agave nectar and mint). The flavoured E3Live was developed to help those that need sweet tastes to transition to pure greens! For people seeking perfect health and perfect diets – I recommend our original fresh frozen E3Live!
Have a wonderful day!
Tamera Campbell
CEO
E3Live
Hi Tamera,
Thanks so much for your reply! And I’m sorry I didn’t like your product. Have you tasted it yourself?
Yeah I don’t use sweeteners either, and I write a lot about how bad they are for our bodies and our skin, and recommend that refined sugars should be avoided completely. That’s why I was so excited about the product.
I cook with agave, xylitol, maple flakes or stevia, but still this product was not sweet enough for me. Maybe I just have a really sweet tooth
I’ve made my own raw ‘alive’ chocolates using all organic and raw ingredients like cacao power, almonds, coconut oil, tahini, almond butter, agave, etc. and they always taste a lot better than that bar. Granted it is probably healthier with the addition of spirulina, but I can just drink that with water, not eat it in my chocolate.
Thanks again for my reply, and you have sparked my interest about your other products.
hey fran
I have tried the product too!!! its disgusting!!!
i returnd it and got some chai flavored chocolate instead
so yummy =)
That doesn’t sound very appetizing at all. O.o I understand wanting to be healthy, but I think most people would pick up a bar of chocolate and expect it to be a ‘little’ sweet, at least!
Anyway, I got free samples of ‘Tru Chocolate’ recently and it was really good. And I’m not that big on dark chocolate, either.
I’ve left a URL so anyone can read about it. I don’t think the chocolate is raw, but everything’s organic/natural. And I can say that at the very least it’s delicious. =)
P.S. I don’t sell it, incase anyone is wondering. ;o)
Sorry to hear you didn’t like it Fran. But do keep us updated on your search for the perfect healthy chocolate bar! It’s definitely something that’s been on my mind lately since I LOVE chocolate and sweets but hate the effect of sugar on my skin
I tried this crap chocolate too!! It sounded good bought it at the health store upon paying I was craving for it so i took a bite out if it while waiting for the cashier to scan the rest of the items I purchased, immidiately you see my mouth gagging i had to spit this nasty thing out. ITS NOT CHOCOLATE How Dare they even try to sell this and claim natural and healthy. I gave this back to cashier and told them it was awful as she saw me spit it out. She gladly took it back and gave me this weird look. I had to drink loads of water afterwards to get rid of the aftertaste. I guess i’m just sticking with hot chocolate
I have tasted some pretty bad stuff in the past, but this took the prize. I tried to enjoy it by thinking ‘oh this is a healthy treat.’ but no go. At the exorbitant cost of the product, I rather indulge in a couple of small high quality good chocolate. Save your money guys, and drink a green drink if all you want is a bad taste…………………
Hi Everyone,
I loved it. Love chile infused chocolate. This bar was different though – hard to compare to normal chocolate bars. It’s in a separate category. I don’t like sweet chocolate at all, so this bar had a good taste profile. It actually tastes better than some of the 85% cacao bars I’ve had. I picked it up at a raw foodist festival. My only complaint is the cost. Otherwise ….
i havent tried the chili version, but i love the mint one.
i work in a health food store that sells it, and maybe i should be warning people so they arent having one bite of it and trying to return it.
caveat emptor!
i was going to recommend chocosol’s chocolate with himalayan salt and hemp seeds (it tastes like healthy reese’s peanut butter cups!) but you apparently have tried their other chocolate and didnt like it. so, forget that.
i think a lot of independent health minded cacao entrepreneurs are likely to be minimal on the sweetener side of things, tho.
Oh that’s great to see there are lovers of this chocolate
I’ve seen E3Live everywhere since and I’ve now learned how beneficial it is.
I love mint so I might try that one! I don’t like hot foods like chili in anything so I should have thought more about that before I bought it
I’ve only tried chocosol’s plain chocolate. It was okay, but yeah ..not quite sweet enough. I have tried some raw chocolates I picked up in NYC sweetened with agave, they were at the perfect sweetness, so they do exist
I guess it’s good there are chocolates of varying sweeteness around for different tastes. I’ll be giving up all sugars (including fruits) for a few weeks soon, so I think after that diet, the low sweet treats will be much more desirable.
Hi,
this stuff does sound very interesting. I havent seen it here in australia, but then i havent looked for it i just come across it on this site now. i am yet to try chocolate with chili in it but would love to try as i like chili.
steve
I love this product, too. I find it sweet enough, actually and the crumbly texture and chili zing make it interesting. It’s been a week, but goshdarnit, I think I’m feeling the effects. Very very regular which has not been a regular occurence for me. I think I may never go back to “normal” chocolate. Thank you, makers of this product.
It needs much more sweetener in it. This is a mistake many of the raw companies do. I’ve tasted some pretty bad raw chocolate. There’s a couple that actually taste very good, but it’s rare. Ulimana brownies are my favorite. I buy mine in bulk from dimondhealth.com because it’s so expensive. Really wish more companies would understand that their products need to taste better. I’ve been raw a long time so my tastes are quite simple. If I don’t like it, someone who is new to raw or isn’t raw is definitely not going to like it. Also wish they used agave and/or dried fruit instead of honey as it works very similar to sugar for many people. Great blog!
You’re crazy if you don’t LOVE these things!
I could live on these chocolate bars!
I want to give one to everyone in the world!
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